In certain applications, there is a need for surface-mount chips where the metallizations intended to be soldered to an external device are continued by lateral portions on the chip sides. When the soldering is performed, part of the soldering material bonds to the lateral portions of the metallizations, which enables to visually inspect the quality of the connections. This need for example exists for sensitive fields such as the automobile field or the medical field.
An example of a method of forming a surface-mount chip comprising a metallization continuing on one side of the chip is described in United States Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0053760 (incorporated by reference). This method however has disadvantages and particularly raises practical implementation issues.